<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>If Something Happened Differently, Would Everything Be Different? by Weird_Chicken</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30071283">If Something Happened Differently, Would Everything Be Different?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weird_Chicken/pseuds/Weird_Chicken'>Weird_Chicken</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Arrow (TV 2012), Catwoman: Soulstealer - Sarah J. Maas, Constantine (TV), DC Animated Universe (Timmverse), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other characters to be added soon, this is one hell of a mess</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 18:49:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,790</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30071283</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weird_Chicken/pseuds/Weird_Chicken</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>If you change one small detail, the changes to everything that come after are significant.</p><p>Oliver and Sara never got on the Queen’s Gambit, Robert went alone and returned safely.<br/>How will this change affect reality? Let's see.</p><p>[Chapter count subject to change]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>John Constantine &amp; Zatanna Zatara, Ray Palmer &amp; Felicity Smoak, Ray Palmer/Felicity Smoak</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Co-authored by me and my AO3-less friend Ev so if you notice a change in writing styles, that's why.<br/>I think I posted a preview of this a while back but I can't find it so this is the longer one. It was never completely finished, we kind of just abandoned it in late September last year.<br/>Enjoy reading.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>One rainy evening, a man in a brown trenchcoat with a loose red tie around his neck sat at a bar, a glass of whiskey on the table in front of him in a puddle of beer and more whiskey that had been spilled earlier when a news story on the small tv caught his attention.</span>
</p><p> </p><p><span>“Earlier today, Quark</span> <span>and his partner Overwatch launched an attack at the Gotham City Bank. It’s estimated to be the duo’s</span> <span>largest robbery to date, as well as the highest fatality count. Executive Director Wilson of the bank has yet to release a statement. Catwoman, who usually prowls Gotham’s streets, has not been seen in recent weeks.</span><span> In other news, Bruce Wayne’s gala on Sunday evening is going ahead as planned and it’s been announced that a high-valued piece will be on auction to support the bank and the recent victims of Quark and Overwatch.” the newscaster announced.</span></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the newscaster spoke, the man raised his eyes to the screen where a picture of Quark was shown: he wore an exo-suit of a navy chest plate on a </span>
  <span>green jacket, matching colour shoulder pads, and pants with green highlights.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Squire, what have you gotten yourself into?” The man muttered under his breath.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A part of the man considered whether he should check in on Quark and make sure nothing was wrong. Sighing, the man turned to his drink; it was empty.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a quick glance at the television- turned back to sports - he left the bar; no one would notice his absence until they realized his drink was unpaid for.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <b>Friday Evening.</b>
</p><p>
  <span>In the more dingy parts of Gotham City, there stood an abandoned subway station. Which in all legal matters, it didn’t exist which made it the perfect place for wanted fugitives to hide in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Station looked like it hadn’t been touched in many, many years, which served to cover fugitives’ tracks if anyone came snooping around. Along the floor trailed vines and other plants that had reclaimed some of the space. More had joined in the time the two women had been there.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Inside the Station stood two women: one clad in a black jumpsuit with orange-tinted goggles on her head; the other had green skin and red hair which stood out in the dark of the place.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m done waiting around; we’re getting Harley out tomorrow,” snarled the green-skinned woman. “Luke says she’s sane and it’s been four years.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The one in black smiled; they’d had this conversation many times before. “You thinking about crashing Wayne’s gala too?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Might as well, we’ve laid low for too long,” the green-skinned one replied.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The one in black raised an eyebrow: “You’re not usually this bold. Something happened, Ivy?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just feel like it’s been enough time. She was good months ago! She even sent us a letter - coded, of course - but it’s her! It’s Harley! I know it, Selina!” Ivy explained to the woman in black.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ll get Harley on Saturday night then - the guards will be thinking of home and not us. You got your poison gas ready?” Selina asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes but I’ve got one better - an adapted variant - more deadly,” Ivy announced as a vine snaked up and around her arm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Perfect, meet back here at, say, eight-thirty?” It was just eleven PM.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ivy nodded and warned, “Don’t be late,” Her warning was accented by the strangler vine rising up from her arm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry; I won’t be,” Selina assured her before disappearing into the shadows, leaving Ivy standing alone in the Station.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <b>Saturday Evening.</b>
</p><p>
  <span>As the man in the trench coat made his way through the rain-soaked streets, he estimated how long it would take to get to Gotham: just over three-and-a-half hours.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh well</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>the only portals I have are to Hell.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Soon he came upon a train station where the last train for the day - inbound for Gotham - was just about to depart. Not bothering to buy a ticket, he boarded the train and found a seat towards the back of a carriage.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nearly four hours later, he stepped onto the platform in Gotham and ascended the stairs up to street-level. The city’s streets gave off an odd vibe, you didn’t even need to be a master of the dark arts to tell something as wrong, even though he was. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Trusting his instincts - however wrong they usually were - the man turned down a darkened alleyway, only to discover a figure leaning against the bricked wall, clearly waiting for someone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“John Constantine, thought you’d end up in Gotham,” the figure told him smoothly after pushing off the wall, their voice was clearly feminine.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, I wasn’t expecting to run into </span>
  <em>
    <span>you </span>
  </em>
  <span>here, Zee,” The man - Constantine - answered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>'Zee' stepped out of the shadows into the light and her facial features were highlighted in the dim moonlight, most notably her inky black hair pulled up into a tight ponytail.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Johnny, how much of Gotham do you remember?” Zee asked as a car sped past, roaring through a mud puddle at the entrance to the alley.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Gotham?” The man asked suspiciously. “Why would there be anything to remember?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because it’s different,” 'Zee' insisted, grabbing his arm as he tried to leave the alley.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Different?” he repeated. “As in, no Quark, no Catwoman, no Batwing and a Batwoman? Terrible names, too,” he added.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes!” Zee said, releasing her hold on him as he stopped trying to leave. “I remember a Gotham without nearly as many problems - but no-one else does.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is that why you tracked me down, Zatanna?” he demanded after a pause. “I found it after a couple days - tracked your signature right to this demented city.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That easily?” she asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p><span>“I thought you were better than that - you know you cannot fool a master of the dark arts that easily. Besides, it isn’t</span> <span>easy to determine whether you remembered this Gotham or mine - ours.”</span></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why are you in Gotham, John?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have my reasons,” he said, flipping open a lighter. With it, the lights in the alley flared up and went out when he flicked the lighter closed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When the lights reappeared, Constantine was gone.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Friday evening.</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke Fox opened the front door of his penthouse to reveal a young woman with dark hair and green eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maggie!” he exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. In turn, Maggie hugged the man and went inside. “What movie do you want to watch tonight: Hamilton? Phantom of the Opera? Sound of Music?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She glanced around the kitchen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t mind - you can choose,” she answered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Luke, who had caught her looking around said sadly, “Selina had an engagement earlier tonight, but promised she’d drop by for dinner.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie’s face brightened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is Ivy coming too?” she asked as there was a knock on the door. She glanced at Luke, concerned, but he mouthed ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>Pizza’</span>
  </em>
  <span> and went to open the door. Maggie instead retrieved plates from the kitchen and went to put them out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Two pepperoni pizzas and one vegetarian!” Luke announced as he entered the kitchen again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Pepperoni?” a feminine voice asked from the doorway leading further into the apartment. “Seriously? You guys have no taste,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>From the corridor emerged the woman in black, although she was no longer in black - instead, she was clad in yoga pants and a tank top.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Selina!” Maggie cried out in surprise and went to hug her sister. “I missed you! Hiroki and Peter think the whole Wayne Med’ internship is taking away from my career, but-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hold on there!” Selina interrupted. “You’re only nineteen - you don’t have to make all your life choices now! You can be a doctor or a chemical engineer or whatever Luke and-” Selina caught Luke’s eye and rethought her sentence before continuing, “-whatever Luke is telling you to be now.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You made your life decisions at eighteen,” Maggie pointed out as Selina made to kiss Luke on the cheek. “And you’re my sister, so-” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie didn’t get any further than that because the door to the apartment erupted in an explosion of wood.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Luke and Selina, who had been the closest to the door, got the majority of the splinters in their backs; Maggie got some embedded in her right forearm but she rushed to help the others.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Luke had pushed Selina behind the counter so she wouldn’t be seen and had burst through the opening to see who had done it. Maggie rushed to her sister and started pulling out splinters from where they had embedded themselves into her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They taught us this in school,” she explained.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ve some - do yourself first,” Selina insisted, Maggie shook her head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ve got more,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Luke returned from examining what remained of the door. “I saw nothing - it must have been timed. Selina - you have to move; we don’t know who did it or who’ll be coming and we can't risk them seeing you. Maggie, I can take care of you-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie shook her head. “I’m fine - just a bit scratched up. But I don’t think Selina can move.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’ll move her into the bedroom, then. I don’t think the police would check in there.” Luke nodded. Now he could see Maggie was unharmed; the only blood on her was from her sister.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Their main priority was to check to make sure no busy-bodies looking for answers would find Selina; otherwise, it would get unnecessarily complicated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With an explosion like that, it ought to have gotten someone’s attention and, by extension, the police’s attention, especially in a block such as this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It would only be so long before anyone would arrive looking for answers.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <b>Earlier that same night.</b>
</p><p>
  <span>The two women stood outside the entrance of the Station.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ready?” Selina asked as she checked her bullwhip was secure at her side, Ivy was checking her plants.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The green-skinned woman smiled and told her, “As I’ll ever be. This is </span>
  <em>
    <span>so overdue</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” She sounded too excited for what was meant to be a prison break. The two women finished their checks and got on their way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Remember, we’re not there to kill anyone, just to get Harley out,” the woman in black reminded her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know, contrary to what it’s named, my poison gas will just knock the guards out but no one else,” the green-skinned woman dutifully answered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Travelling by rooftops, they would reach the prison in just over fifteen minutes, faster than if they had gone on street level and much safer - no one </span>
  <span>ever thought to look up, even in Gotham.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The guards on duty at that time had about half an hour left until the end of their shift so they would be thinking about their families, so they would be preoccupied with thinking about their families and not the two women. Ivy located an open window and released her plant that produced the colourless poison gas. Within minutes the guards were on the floor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll take care of the cameras, you go get Harley,” Selina told her before she disappeared into the prison, keeping out of the view of the active surveillance cameras. Ivy followed her into the prison but left her as soon as they were both on the inside. The green-skinned woman headed down a hallway, knowing exactly where to go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Selina wasn’t surprised that Ivy knew exactly where Harley was; it made tonight that much easier. The surveillance cameras were suspiciously too easy. She simply broke the connection to the one in Harley’s cell and then knocked out the guards in the control room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Ivy raced down the corridor, she heard the usual taunts from the inmates: </span>
  <em>
    <span>monster, freak, bitch</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Ivy ignored them; it was what they called her whenever she had visited Harley in the past four years, but they never reported her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>No one would believe them anyway, what with the cameras dutifully edited and the guards asleep with no memory of how. If they did, they should be too embarrassed to be sleeping on the job to report it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You be careful, now,” a voice told her as Ivy raced paced, which made her pause, to her right was an older woman sitting at the back of her cell. “She isn’t as worth it as you think. You’d best be careful,” Ivy left the woman. “After all, this isn’t even…” She didn’t hear the rest as she was of hearing range.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Around the corner…next left…step over the guard, knocked out due to the toxins Ivy had continually leaked as she’d been going …second right-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ivy!” There, three pristine cells down was Harley. “You found Dusty yet?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ivy laughed. “Yeah, he ran after Luke: he smelled him on Sel - on Catwoman - and he was determined to find the source. Now, Luke has a stray,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This time, it was Harley who laughed. One of Ivy’s vines - Emma - curled in the lock.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harley looked at Ivy curiously. “It’s time?” The lock fell away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ivy nodded and smiled. “There’s a gala tomorrow. Doubt the press will know ‘bout your fantabulous escape before then,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harley shared her wicked smile. “They’ll certainly be in for a surprise!”</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Later that night, the three women were back in the Station.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sorry ladies, I’ve got to go - see you at Bruce’s gala?” Selina asked as she made her way to the exit but didn’t leave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep, do you know if C is coming?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She’s right here,” a feminine voice told them from a dark shadowy corner as a lady stepped out into the light.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Perfect, see you ladies tomorrow,” Selina said before she left the Station and Ivy moved towards the far corners of the room to check on her plants and the vines that grew across the floor and up the walls.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The mystery woman had curly blonde hair, black lipstick, and wore an outfit of black leather with gold highlights.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Have you been there the whole time?” Harley demanded, putting her hands on her hips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yep,” the mystery woman said, popping the ‘p’.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Who the hell is this lady? Ivy and Selina definitely know her. Maybe she joined while I was in prison and they forgot to tell me?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Harley wondered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who even are you?” she demanded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The name’s Canary,” She told her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p><span>“Don’t know what you’re doing here but it’ll be good to have another with us tomorrow.</span> <span>Now scram,” Harley jerked a thumb over her shoulder and went after Ivy.</span></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Canary did indeed scram after that: there was no need for her to be there any longer.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>My name is Oliver Queen and for five years I have been the man of my family. I will not fall to these malevolent people</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oliver Queen, one of the richest men in Starling City and heir to Queen Consolidated, made his way through the swarm of paparazzi who had gathered in front of the courthouse.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This was not the first time he had been to the colossal sandstone building- nor was it his second or third; it was his sixth and none of the flock of people who were gathered seemed to want him to forget that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How do you feel now your sister is in court?” one particularly annoying reporter questioned.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you still claim your sister is innocent?” another asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>John Diggle, Oliver’s bodyguard of four years, pushed his way in front of Oliver. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry this is happening,” he told Oliver softly as they finally got through the last of the crowd and into the building. “I wish it wasn’t- for all our sakes,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, Dig,” Oliver said. “I’m really glad to have you here with me. It means a lot,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just doing my job, sir,” he replied.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, I really appreciate it,” Oliver said as he made his way towards the front row, where his mother, Moira Queen, and her husband, Malcolm Merlyn, were seated on the wooden benches.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Malcolm was in his late forties, his oily dark hair neatly groomed and matching his suit perfectly. Moira, while old, was still beautiful. Her wavy golden hair reached just below her shoulders. Her face was wrinkled, no doubt caused by the trouble her children had made in the past few years. This was, after all, the second time in six months Thea had been in court.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oliver himself had been in court a grand total of four times: once for assault, once for drunk driving, once for stealing a taxi, and once for crashing a helicopter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The last time Thea had been in court, she’d stolen a dress. Of course, Moira had quietly paid the dressmaker and gotten Thea a </span>
  <span>chaperone</span>
  <span> of whom she had promptly dumped - both romantically and professionally - before a family friend had been hired. Moira had not been impressed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now, Thea was in court for a much more serious offence even the combined wealth of the Queens and Merlyns couldn't hide: drug use. Not just any use, as she had first been accused of, but overdose. It was how Malcolm, Moira, and the press had found out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oliver had known for some months before but he hadn’t told his parents - after Robert Queen, Oliver’s father, had died and the truth of Thea’s parents was revealed, he felt that she deserved some slack.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After all, it wasn’t every day you found out your father was never really your father and your mother was now engaged to be wed in six months to your real, biological father.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <b>Gotham City</b>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello?” Sara Lance, the new chaperone of Thea Queen, asked as she accepted the call.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sara! Where are you?” Sara recognized the voice of her sister, Laurel. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere! Thea said you’d be late, but the trial is starting-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Laurel,” Sara interrupted. “I’m fine. I need to take some time off and…” She couldn’t find the words.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thea said you’d done that, but as her chaperone, you have to be here. By you not being here, it means Thea is more likely to be considered guilty and get a worserer sentence. Judge Rudy is already anti-rich, but if you give him an excuse…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sara glanced around her nervously. Instead of being in Starling City to support Thea and her family, she’d gone to Gotham City for the weakened, and the brick living room of the apartment she’d rented was nothing like the apartment she’d shared with her sister the past year.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I…” Sara didn’t know what to say again. “I thought it would be best if I could get away for the weekend, but I couldn’t make the train…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So you left?” Laurel asked incredulously, Sara could see her. “I thought you liked the Queens; that’s why you took this position after-” she paused to reword her sentence. “I thought you were better than this,” the elder sister said softly before she hung up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sara stared sadly at the phone resting in her hand. True, she was fond of the Queens, but it wasn’t because of Thea, the girl whom she’d come to think of as the younger sister she’d never had.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was because of Oliver.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <b>In the courtroom</b>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Laurel paced the side room off the main room. Thea, who stood in front of her, was staring at her defiantly; her black hair tied up in a ponytail for once. “Sara couldn’t make it,” Laurel explained.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What did you expect?” Thea asked, throwing her hands up in the air. “She can never make a commitment. Not to you, not to your father, not to me, not to-” Thea broke off before she could antagonise Laurel further.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"All I’m saying-” Thea said more gently, “-is that you can’t expect things you can’t get - and I understand she’s your sister,” she said quickly to stop Laurel’s interruption, “but she can’t make a commitment; never has been able to and never will be able to.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Laurel stared at Thea. “Look,” she said, “I don’t know why you don’t like her, but Sara needs to spend some time alone - she’s a travelling soul and she needs to move.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sure,” Thea said, turning away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ladies,” Quentin Lance announced as he entered the room; he was the officer who had formally arrested Thea. “It’s time,” Laurel nodded solemnly and led Thea into the courtroom.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Maggie and Luke had managed to get Selina into Luke’s bedroom just before a set of police officers arrived on the scene.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There were reports of an explosion here a few minutes ago, do you know what happened?” one of the two officers, a woman asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Probably just some kids looking to cause trouble,” Luke shrugged. “There are lots of potential targets in this area, so I doubt we were singled out. I heard about the bombs in other buildings around here; I think it was just another one of the pranks.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” The officer said, nodding. “We’ve noticed a trend that the people who have been victims of the bombs have a connection to the East End; we suspect it might be a Catwoman-imitator or a member of Carmine Falcone’s gang. We sincerely hope it's not the former; we don’t need another one of those upstarts around here. It’s been almost peaceful since the last Catwoman sighting and…” The woman gestured around, sighing. “We don’t really want any more casualties,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Luke nodded in understanding. “I don’t believe I have any connections to the East End or Falcone, but I was having a guest for dinner tonight, Maggie Kyle, and she is a former resident there. I don’t know too much about what happened before she was adopted into the suburbs six years ago, but I think her sister might have had a connection to one of the gangs. She’s currently resting in the guest room, but I can get her if you want?” he offered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” she said. “We’ll need to take statements and categorize the evidence, but I think we should be out of your hair in no time.” She added a pleasant smile and Luke went to fetch Maggie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maggie,” he whispered as he entered the room. He looked over Selina, asleep in the bed. His bed. “The officers want to take statements, so I need you to come out,” She nodded in understanding. Her dark hair was messier in its ponytail than it had been before the explosion, but otherwise she looked composed; somewhere between the cops’ arrival and now Maggie had managed to get Selina stable and wash herself up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Miss…Kyle, was it?” The female cop asked. A third cop, darker-skinned with a black moustache, was helping the pudgier male bag the evidence. As Luke entered, the dark one went to take his statement.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie let the cop lead her to one side. “You were at Mr Fox’s apartment to eat dinner with him, alone?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie nodded. “We do it every couple of weeks since we met; I was in the hospital during the Arkham Breakout, and Mr Fox stopped by to make sure all of the patients were okay, especially after Catwoman…” She hesitated, not sure whether the cop knew the story.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catwoman, Maggie’s sister, had gotten arrested six years ago for protecting her. Back then, Maggie had Cystic Fibrosis, and Selina - with their Mom absent - had had to take care of Maggie herself. Maggie was never told the details but she knew it had all been illegal. In exchange for becoming an assassin for the League of Assassins, a notorious group of the most deadly men and women in the world, Maggie was given a cushy home in the suburbs with two parents who loved her: Hiroki and Peter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie hadn’t lived a fully happy life there - not with the question of where Selina had gone floating over her head - but she had been happier than she could have been, going to that dingy school, begging to be robbed every time she went out on the streets, but she’d been fine. Better than fine.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’d still had CF, but the bills had been paid. There had been enough food to go around. Then, two years after her adoption, Hiroki and Peter had cried one day when they found the expensive bills they’d had to pay had been paid - an anonymous donation, they’d said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie had known better. She’d known Selina had had to steal things to support them; had known she’d had to do worse, especially when the cops came calling.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She hadn’t known, then, how much her sister had loved her, or how much a person could sacrifice because they loved someone. She’d found out that night.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>A life for a life</span>
  </em>
  <span>, the saying went. In her case, that was true: Selina had done worse than sell her soul so Maggie could get a chance at having a glimpse of a happier life, even though everyone knew they were merely delaying the inevitable: there was no cure for CF.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The villain Catwoman had shown up around then. Nobody knew much about her, except she liked having fun and she had a cat-themed disguise. Nobody knew who gave her the name; nobody knew why she’d come to Gotham, a city rife with heroes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nobody except Maggie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She had known Catwoman was there because of her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catwoman’s reign of terror, as the media had called it, went on for only a couple of months. After that, she had been put away in Arkham, her identity as ‘Holly Vanderhees’ unveiled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie would have cried to see Selina’s face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But then Maggie was sick, unconscious, only a few hours left. Peter and Hiroki had told her, the last time she was conscious, that Catwoman had been arrested and unmasked. Maggie had tried to laugh, to say it was what Catwoman had deserved.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next time she’d been conscious, she’d been in a factory: healed, healthy and whole. There had also been Batwing, one of the city's superheroes, and Poison Ivy, a villain conspiring with Catwoman. And on the floor, had been Selina, dead. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The three of them had managed to revive Selina using the Lazarus Pit, the same thing that had saved Maggie’s life. Then Selina had disappeared for a few months with nothing but a promise of Friday night movie night before Luke returned, with an invitation for movie night.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now, it had become a monthly tradition: dinner with Luke and Selina, and a movie. Maggie’s choice, since Selina had always let her pick, and Luke, despite being Batwing and nemesis of Catwoman, Selina’s alter ego, seemed to be willing to let her lead. In both movie nights and their relationship.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie doubted it was proper for the second most-famous hero of Gotham  (after Batman) and the second most notorious villain (after the Joker) to be in a relationship, but nothing about the pair seemed to be proper, especially Selina.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The cop nodded, bringing Maggie back to the present. “It was a traumatic time for everybody. If you ever need anything I know a great lawyer. She’s based in Starling, but the company she works for, CNRI, is free,” Maggie took the card. It read: </span>
  <em>
    <span>Dr Laurel Lance, CNRI</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “Now, can you tell me what happened here tonight?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie nodded and explained how Luke had invited her for dinner and the two had discussed which movie they were to be watching. As they were going into the TV room, the bomb had exploded and Luke had been closest to the blast, his body shielding hers. No, she did not know why the apartment had been targeted. No, she did not have any connection to the East End.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you have any family members who might be connected to the East End or Carmine Falcone?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie paused at this question. “I used to live in the East End with my sister,” she said slowly, “and I know she did bad things to help us survive, but I never knew the details. She might have had contact with this Falcone person,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Have you had any contact with your sister recently?” the cop asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie made sure not to glance towards the bedroom where Selina was lying, prone.  “No,” she lied. “I haven’t seen or heard from her in six years.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The cop nodded, believing her. “What’s your sister’s name? We might track her down, see if she has any connection to these incidents.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Her name is Selina - Selina Kyle,” Maggie told her. “I think she went to prison, so she should be already in your system,”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The cop nodded sympathetically, reaching to touch her arm. “Thank you for your time. My name is Lily Schmidt, if you ever need anything, call the station and ask for me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maggie nodded once again, pretending to be grateful. In truth, she’d like nothing more than to forget what had happened and Selina and Luke to be alright. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Having the cops around would be nothing but trouble.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>